Megaman Generation
by MM007
Summary: This story shows the MegaMan era through the eyes of a boy, as he grows up, watching Protoman, Megaman, and even Kalinka shape the world, slowly becoming aware that he also plays a role. Please review!
1. The Child Who Would Not Cry

MegaMan Generation, Chapter 1: The child who would not cry…

"WHAT? SOMETHING'S WRONG WITH MY BABY?"

In the clinic, an angry woman's voice rang through the hospital. Everyone in the waiting room flinched at the loud voice, which was quite shrill. Inside the office where the cry originated, there was the woman who made the cry, a man, who seemed quite embarrassed, and a doctor, trying to get the woman's hands off of his throat.

"I'm sorry...but yes...your unborn child has a very rare increase in brain size. It's called Light Syndrome, and it is a genetic ailment. Most infants with it do not survive childbirth...but yours can."

The woman let go of his color, wondering what he could possibly mean.

"Normally, no one knows until the child is born and the enlarged brain is damaged when the skull shifts into the normal childbirth configuration. However, now that we've identified it, purely by chance since it is so hard to detect, we can avoid it by Caesarian section. After that, his condition can actually be a benefit."

The woman had gotten back to her seat.

"What do you mean by that?" The man was talking now, the voice of reason for the wife.

"Well, it's called Light's Syndrome because one of the smartest living humans, Dr. Thomas Light, was the first to have survived his birth the syndrome, and he became one of the world's foremost scientists, along with others with his disease. Along with the baby girl I delivered about seven months ago, he will, if brought up correctly, become one of the great minds of the next era." The woman and man's faces lit up.

"Imagine, Susuke! When we're old, he'll be so rich that we will be able to travel the world! He can take care of us!"

The man's face got depressed again, and the doctor gave the woman an odd look.

"Keiko, he's the baby, WE'RE the parents, remember? Hey, how did you identify the other case?" Susuke asked the doctor, confused.

"Oh, well, her father had it to begin with, so we knew to look for it, since she was second generation. She seems as smart as her father from what we've seen, maybe even smarter. Anyway, Mr. and Mrs. Yuki, your child should be fine." They got up and left, the woman grimacing slightly at the prospect o a C-section, but living the easy life in her old age seemed to be worth it.

"…I don't think she'll be the type of mother that boy needs…"

---Five months pass---

"AAAGGH!" Keiko was wheeled into Maternity for her C-section, and her unborn child was getting quite impatient. The prospective father was pacing outside, a robot trying to calm him down, as was its simple programming. Eventually, however, they called him in, and his wife was holding a baby boy…

"…They say he didn't cry…not even while his cord was cut…I was worried, but they said that babies with his condition rarely cried when they are born…" She smiled, holding the baby boy in her arms, who was fast asleep. Eventually, he was placed with other babies, crying for their parents, but he was silent. While some of them had their eyes closed and were simply crying out for attention, the silent Toshiro, as he was named, looked around his new world with bright emerald eyes.

"ALBERT!" The voice of Dr. Thomas Light could be heard throughout the lab, attracting the attention of a brown-haired scientist, whose hairline was just starting to recede. He rushed to a television room, where a scientist with jet black hair sat, fixated on the television with bright blue eyes.

"What is it, Thomas?" Dr. Wily seemed irritated that Dr. Light would interrupt his work on the Metool prototype.

"Albert...another child with Light Syndrome has been born." The news was all about Toshiro, who was born without any complications. Albert's face turned to one of interest.

"For those just turning in, a child with Light Syndrome was just born in Tokyo without any problems this morning. This follows the birth of a girl with the same condition by a year to the day. He seems like a normal infant, save that he has not cried, even as his cord was cut, and seems extra attentive to his environment. Mere hours after his birth, he was already seen moving his mouth in certain patterns which indicate a conscious effort at imitating speech. The girl from last year followed a similar system, and within a month had begun to speak simple sentences." Just then, Toshiro could be seen looking at the camera, intently. He then smiled, and something which couldn't possibly be anticipated happened.

"…Eye!" The camera crew saw him staring and pointing at the camera lens, specifically the focusing mechanism, which was similar to the iris of a human eye. The camera crew didn't say anything for several seconds, though the shocked psychologists in the room suddenly started writing on their notepads vigorously.

"…As you can see, the child has just spoken his first word, not even a half day after his birth. My sources have just told me that he seems to have observed the similarity between the camera and the human eye in its focusing movements."

Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were flabbergasted at what they had just witnessed, a human speaking his first clear word at the age of eleven hours, thirty-six minutes.

"Remarkable…even faster development than we had. I didn't speak for three days…" Dr. Light sat in thought, quite impressed. "I guess it is true about each new generation gaining a little more intelligence than the last…"

This time, Albert spoke. "Not just that, Thomas…but his brain developed to the point where he can consciously determine physical similarities between different objects! The advanced logical capacity that this indicates is far more impressive than the early speech…I think he might be among those to carry on our work, one day…"

In Russia, a little girl sat on her father's lap, watching the entire event on television with her father watching, who was also shocked. The girl was still wearing a birthday hat from her birthday party earlier that day, and took her eyes off the television to look at her father.

"Papa…is he like me?"

The man looks down to his daughter, and smiles.

"…Yes Kalinka, he's just like you."


	2. Humble Beginnings

MegaMan Generation, Chapter 2: Humble Beginnings

For the world, the next six years were a blur of scientific discovery and advancement. Metanium Alloy, also called Met Alloy, was developed, robots with exponentially more complex AIs were produced, and the first Metool, a construction robot equipped with Met Alloy armor, was created. Now the little robots were at work all over the planet, even in Russia.

The seven-year-old Kalinka Cossack had just gotten her license, after quite extensive testing. People were uncertain as to if she should get permission to drive that early, even with the benefits of Light Syndrome, but she had gotten her license on the condition that her vehicle had a decent AI to take control of the vehicle in emergencies, and she wasn't driving at night. She rode in one of these vehicles now, driving home to her father, who had called her sounding extremely happy, almost manic. She remembered his words.

"_Kalinka! It's happened! It's finally happened! A partially sentient robot has been completed! Come home quickly, we're going to Japan!"_

Kalinka hasn't been fully convinced, and was worried about leaving Russia, but curiosity got the better of her as she parked the car, Dr. Cossack dashed out, bags packed, and jumped in the car, in the driver's seat. It was all Kalinka could do to jump into the passenger's side before he landed on her. Since her mother's death, he'd done that sort of thing a few times, but he was generally a good father, so she accepted his hustled apology and they went toward the airport, Dr. Cossack yelling at the car's AI the whole time, which, to his dismay, blatantly REFUSED to exceed the speed limit.

"Come on, speed up!"

"Negative. Speed limit is 100 kilometers per hour. Current speed is 100 kilometers per hour. Request for speed increase denied."

"…We should have taken MY car…I can't believe they want to install these things in every non-emergency vehicle in the world…"

They arrived at the airport, where many other scientists, mathematicians, investors, and even a few psychologists were boarding. Within an hour, Kalinka and her father were in the air, joining nearly every scientist in the world worth mentioning in a global descent upon Tokyo. Never before were the airports so full of aircraft, and Tokyo bay was quickly filling with boats. Hotels in the city were filled beyond capacity, people sharing tiny rooms, and even the tube hotels were crammed full. Separated by gender and age, Kalinka found herself with girls her own age, while her father chatted with other male scientists in his room. Both of them were fluent in many languages, and became unofficial translators for their respective rooms. Dr. Cossack probably had a better time than Kalinka with this, as he was discussing robotics theories, requirements for sentience and consciousness, and power supply systems, while Kalinka was translating topics about boys and shopping. She turned in early, while her father chattered into the early morning.

Normally, Dr. Cossack and Kalinka could have easily gotten lost, but all they had to do was follow the literal sea of people heading toward the Tokyo Technology Exposition Building. After an hour of everyone getting seated and ready, everything was ready. Almost every single person had a laptop or a notepad in their hand, Kalinka included. She and her father watched the front stage like hawks, when the crowd abruptly fell silent. A doctor with black and graying hair stepped out, his blue eyes conveying an honest pride and happiness at what he was to announce, and a brown haired scientist with black and shifty eyes also came out with him, Kalinka guessed that he was the assistant of Dr. Light's, Dr. Wily. It was said that he had a big hand in the design of the robot, almost an equal part to Dr. Light's. When Dr. Light cleared his throat, the majority of the audience put on earpieces, apparently so that they could listen to Dr. Light's words translated into their respective languages. Dr. Cossack and Kalinka both listened to Dr. Light in his native Japanese.

"My esteemed colleagues from around the world, today I would like to show you what may very well be the future of technology. World, I'd like you to meet EDDIE!"

He dramatically unveiled a red robot, seemingly based on a Metool, but more complex. It looked out to the crowd, and beeped, doing a small back flip. Kalinka raised an eyebrow, and looked at her father with a quizzical look, but her father's gaze was fixed on the little robot, his face not unlike a child's staring into a toy store window.

"Eddie is made of Metanium Alloy, and his brain is capable of complex logic and problem solving capabilities, as well as self-awareness, self-preservation, and more recently, emotion. He can be happy, sad, angry, just like a living thing. His AI isn't as complex as a human mind, more like that of a very smart pet, but given some time, a relatively small amount of time, we believe it is possible to build a robot capable of human-level sentience."

Kalinka got more and more interested as Eddie did various tasks, showing the powers of his mind. He had reasoning tests, self-preservation tests, adaptation tests, and even tests in comprehension. Kalinka noticed that all of Dr. Light's tests were quite humane, and he was quite proud of Eddie. After the expo was over, Eddie got a standing ovation, which made him give a bow, unordered. This caused the crowd to go wild. Kalinka knew that this wouldn't be the last time the world saw some of Dr. Light's work, as shown by almost all of the investors making a bee-line for the stage afterward.

As Kalinka walked out, a six-year-old boy bumped into her. After noting her attire, he made a polite and fluent apology in Russian, and went on his way again, seemingly in a hurry. Kalinka blinked and shrugged it off, going with her father back to the hotel.

On the way home, the boy saw a Metool, damaged, in the trash of a construction site. Apparently, it had been shocked heavily by electrical wiring on a weak point under it's armor, and was discarded. He picked it up and carried it home.

"Toshiro how was it?" Toshiro stopped in the living room and looked at his father.

"It was amazing, Dad! They had a robot there that was like a very smart pet! It's only a matter of time before they have full sentience!"

The father smiled as Toshiro went to his room, noting the Metool. Toshiro got together a mess of technology and computer components from various junked robot types, and a few devices of his own design. He pulled green and blue paints off of the shelf and got to work. He was setting up for the first of many all-nighters.


	3. Spirits of Silicon

MegaMan Generation, Chapter 3: Spirits of Silicon

(Author's note: If you don't understand paragraph two, don't worry, just assume that each side of his brain is doing a different task.)

Albert Wily opened his eyes, smiling, as gawking passengers with them on the subway train gossiped about the robot standing on the seat between them, occasionally pointing back toward it. No one dared to touch the robot, as they had no idea how a sentient robot, though not as intelligent as a human, would react. Some didn't want to anger or upset the little metallic creature; others thought their limbs were worth more to them than the little tin can would be on the black market. Dr. Wily looked over to Dr. Light, and raised his eyebrow as he saw Dr. Light writing a thank you letter to the Japanese-speaking investors on his laptop on his left knee, and translating it into English for the others, in real time, using the laptop on his right knee.

Dr. Wily had seen Dr. Light use this ability before, and was a bit jealous of it, not being quite as complex a case of Light Syndrome as its namesake was. As a child, Dr. Light found he could literally do a logical task and an artistic task simultaneously by lessening the use of or even severing the pathway between the two halves of his brain. Each brain then acted independently of the other to the degree Dr. Light wanted. It was quite a useful ability, and Dr. Light was using it to almost sever the connection, save the pathways to the language center. One HAD to be a genius to plan out how to map out the specific functions of one's own brain. Dr. Light could also use it when he preformed a logical task that he didn't want his artistic or emotional side to interfere with, or to stop his artistic/emotional side from getting bored when doing monotonous work sometimes needed in programming. Dr. Light never really got bored with any sort of computer or robotics work, or saw any need to separate himself from his emotions, but the option was there, and Wily was always jealous of the ability to turn one's emotions off with what was equivalent to the flick of a switch. He figured that Murphy's Law was well at work, giving the skill he wanted the most to a man who had no true need for it. He then intently pushed his way out of that line of thought.

"Thomas." Dr. Light returned to normal and responded.

"Hmmm? What is it, Albert?"

"…With all the funding we've been promised, I believe we will have MORE than enough to begin on DRN-000…have you considered my suggestion?" Dr. Light turned to his assistant and thought for a moment.

"Well, the first and foremost goal is to create a robot with a mind of it's own to think and feel for itself, so we have to remember that. Making sentient robots that are given specific powers for certain tasks goes against the very nature of a mind that thinks for itself." Dr. Wily seemed like he'd been punched in the face.

"But Thomas! We HAVE to show that our robots can be useful to humans! I mean, the people will see a sentient robot, and be impressed with the novelty for a while, but eventually they will think it serves no purpose but to give God the middle finger! If we give them tasks to perform, then at least the world will see that they have a purpose, and that there was a more tangible reason to do it than 'to prove we could'." Dr. Light looked at his friend, a look of surprise.

"Albert, you don't understand…the nature of an emotional, thinking entity is to choose their own purpose, not to follow a pre-set path or just obey orders. By giving them powers to accomplish what you want them to do indicates that they don't have a choice in what to do with their lives. What if they want to do something completely different than what you designed them for? What then? No, Albert. We can't outfit our sentient robots with functions specific to a certain task, not unless they CHOOSE that task of their own free will." Dr. Wily didn't seem to understand.

"Thomas, they're ROBOTS! Robots are built for specific functions! We should make their purposes obvious for them and give them equipment and functions to make it easier for humanity!" Dr. Light's look of surprise changed to one of pity.

"Albert…we can't do that…I hope you'll understand someday…but let's compromise." Dr. Wily looked at Dr. Light, his eyebrow raised once more. "Let's make our first prototype humanoid and sentient, to give our theories a good testing, and maybe the first one or two after that. Then we'll modify the code to make several semi-sentient robots that are built for specific functions, just to keep people interested. It is better that they be semi-sentient and programmed to be happy with their jobs then to have jealous sentient robots that envy the freedom of choice of their creators. The humanoids will not possess the drone control system, but the semi-sentient robots will, so that they can direct Metools and the like in tasks which relate to their function." Dr. Wily pondered this for several moments before nodding in agreement.

"I can live with that. The robots will be the masters for the drones, while your androids will be thinking robots meant for tasks that require a less specific design. I think we should call these task-specific robots Robot Masters." Dr. Light thought for a few seconds, and agreed. Soon, they got to the lab, turned on the satellite radio system to some soft blues music, and began work on the software for their first prototype, DRN-000.

Across the city, Toshiro was in his room, glued to a computer screen, which was the only light source in the room. A huge computer was in the room, which seemed to have been an old server which was re-fitted to store multiple computers in a massive homebrew super computer. The light from the screen reflected off of the nearby Metool, which had been repainted to have a light blue helmet and green feet. Even its eye color had been altered to be green. It was still deactivated and opened up shown to have quite a bit of powerful internal processing equipment.

"…Phew...this will take a while…"

Over the next six months, all three of them worked on their respective projects. Finally, on Toshiro's eighth birthday, things would begin to change…

"Albert, I'm going out the buy a new processor for the secondary programming terminal. Can you keep an eye on things while I'm gone?" Dr. Wily looked over to Dr. Light.

"Yes, I have work to do anyway. I'll see you soon." Dr. Wily continued to work on his part of DRN-000's systems, blues music still playing as it had for most of the design process. Dr. Wily had run into some problems, but swore he could solve them, so Dr. Light gave him some more time to fix the problem. Unfortunately, Dr. Light had long since realized that Dr. Wily's software had fundamental flaws.

Dr. Light went into the computer store, and saw Toshiro walking toward the counter with a massive amount of complex computer hardware, and what looked like a custom Metool. This made him stop for a moment, enough time for Toshiro to notice him. Dr. Light knew from the boy's face that he was a fan, and realized there was likely no escape from this situation without probably talking to the young technology buff. The boy had made his way over to Dr. Light, swiftly considering the sheer amount of hardware he had in his arms.

"Hi! You're Dr. Light, aren't you?" He looked up at the doctor, now with more white hair than black, with his emerald eyes shining.

"Why yes I am. Who might you be? Most boys that are your age don't buy computer components this complex or high-end." Dr. Light seemed a bit puzzled as to why the boy was buying so much equipment. Most children simply had no need for it.

"Well, I'm Toshiro Yuki, and I like working with computers and robots. I'm the one who rebuilt and programmed this Metool. His name is Dou, but I haven't been able to finish him yet." Dr. Light seemed to think for a moment, remembering the name from somewhere.

"What are you programming it to do?"

"Well, I'm trying to make him sentient, and underneath the Metool chassis, I've crammed a bunch of complex hardware into him as I could. It's based on your work with Eddie!" Toshiro smiled, and Dr. Light looked puzzled.

"Not bad…but most children your age can't program a Metool at all…how did you manage it? You must be only seven or so." Toshiro smiled and gave an answer that Dr. Light wasn't expecting.

"I turned eight today, and was born with Light Syndrome. My parents say that not even 12 hours after I was born, I said my first word." Dr. Light seemed quite surprised, and realized that he'd heard the name from the news broadcast eight years ago. Realizing this, he became curious as to what the boy had programmed, and the words just came out of his mouth. He immediately regretted it, but couldn't take it back.

"Maybe I can take a look at your Dou and see how close you are, and maybe make some modifications…" Toshiro's eyes were soon open wide.

"You mean it? WOW! Thanks, Dr. Light!" Next thing Dr. Light knew, he was leaving the place with schematics, Dou, several disks of Dou's software, and the processor he originally set out to purchase. Albert was quite irritated when he found out what Dr. Light had promised.

"Thomas, put that child's toy away and help me fix this incompatibility in the guidance system!" Dr. Light looked at him, only half-paying attention.

"Sorry, I'll be there in a minute, Albert…" Dr. Wily grumbled and walked away, as Dr. Light stared at the screen. Somehow, this eight year old boy had managed to make a system that solved the problems Dr. Wily was having…he could just adapt it for his own systems, and there it'd be, a complete AI…but he owed Dr. Wily too much to scrap his AI, and he'd been there every step of the way.

"_I'll give Albert a little more time…if he can't deliver results by the time I port this to DRN-000's AI, I'll have to fall back on this boy's program…"_ Dr. Light worked for several weeks on this AI, stalling when he could, to give Dr. Wily more time, but Wily failed. After calling Toshiro, who gave him permission to use his work, and even take credit, he implemented the AI OS into DRN-000's design, as well as Dou's. Imagine Dr. Wily's surprise when he saw two Metools, Dou and a newer red one, waiting on the activation table.

"Thomas, what is this?" Dr. Wily asked, surprised, and a bit suspicious.

"Ah, Albert, guess what! I managed to work out all the bugs in compatibility issues! Albert…we're ready to go!" Dr. Wily was surprised, but smiled. He walked over to the table, looking over the units.

"I thought they'd be humanoid, and that we'd only build one to start!" Dr. Light had to do something he didn't like to do. Lie.

"Well, I thought we'd run the tests on the AI with them as normal Metools, and THEN build their main bodies. Also, the other Metool is so that we can have data on how these sentient robots would interact. We'd need two for that." He didn't tell Dr. Wily that the other Metool was programmed because he owed that boy. Dr. Wily looked at him, and sighed.

"Tell me next time there is a change to the plan, alright?" With that, he flipped the switch on DRN-000 and waited to see if he woke up. The Metool opened it's eyes, and spoke.

"…Well…I think I work...DRN-000, scan complete. All systems green. It seems like you guys finally did it." The Metool jumped up, and looked toward Dou. "Who's the other tin-can?" Dr. Light spoke up.

"His name is Dou. He is your fellow prototype. Now…let's see if he works…" Dr. Light flipped a switch, and Dou sprang to life.

"YN-000 "Dou", systems check is all good. I'm alive!" With that, Dou jumped up and did a little dance, and DRN-000 rolled his eyes.

"Showoff…and why don't _I_ get a name?" Dr. Light blinked and thought. DRN-000 was right, he deserved a name. The blues music that had been on the whole time gave him an idea…

"…How about Blues?" Dr. Wily shot a glance at Dr. Light. After all, he'd put in just as much work as Dr. Light, and for all he knew, it was his software running them. How could Dr. Light name DRN-000 without even asking him? He'd let it slide, since he couldn't think of a better name, but he decided then and there that he'd get to name at least ONE of the robots they'd build in the next phase. Dou turned to Blues.

"Hey, I'm happy to be alive, and I think I deserve a little dance, okay? Aren't you happy to be more than the sum of your parts? The big brother to a generation of sentient machines?" Dou seemed to have a strong sense of just what their creation meant, even moments after his activation. Both doctors were surprised at this.

"Nah, we'll be rendered obsolete pretty quickly. I mean, sure, in a way life isn't EVER obsolete, but people will see us as that once more advanced robots are created."

"True, but most humans will realize that we live, and we won't be considered obsolete. The elderly aren't considered obsolete, are they?" Both doctors were shocked that they were hearing the very first meaningful conversation between to sentient robots. Two spirits of silicon had been successfully created.


	4. Out of Body Experience

MegaMan Generation, Chapter 4: Out of Body Experience

"What are you doing?" The green and blue Metool peeked out from under the tabletop, looking at Toshiro. It had been two months since his activation, and Dr. Light insisted that Dou visit his creator, both for development and so that he could do work on Blues uninterrupted. Dr. Light liked having Dou around, and it had helped his project a great deal, but he wanted to make sure Dou knew who his real creator was.

"Hmm? Oh, hey, Dou. I'm working on the Atomizer Prototype…" Toshiro looked like a mess. He had dark circles under his eyes, and the neighboring closet looked like a technological mess. Toshiro was working on the final component for a project he called the Atomizer Chamber, a tiny room built to disassemble a person's molecules and bring them to the chamber, or send them from the chamber to a different location. This model was heavily amplified so it could teleport anywhere within the Tokyo city limits without a satellite, no matter what the weather was like. He'd said that when Dou's final body was complete, he hoped to have a more compact unit that would allow global teleportation, wearable for humans, and built-in for robots. Of course, he was working too hard, as usual. He often worked into the early morning, and his mother simply didn't care. Since his father was always at work until the morning, he was never there to send Toshiro to bed.

"You know, you should get to sleep...You don't take very good care of yourself." Dou was somewhat worried about his creator. He had taken readings on Toshiro, and knew that he wasn't in peak shape. Right now, he was extremely tired, but seemed to be preparing for another all-nighter. Dou was afraid he'd collapse from exhaustion, but then he stopped and closed it up.

"It's okay Dou…I've finished it anyway…we can test it tomorrow." With that, Toshiro promptly fell out of the chair, asleep before he hit the ground. Dou was used to this, and wondered if all children were like this. An hour passed, and Dou's internal receiver clicked on, Blues at the other end.

"Hey, Dou…how are things going with the kid?" Blues could be heard on the other end, obviously impatient. Dr. Light and Dr. Wily must have gone to sleep for the night, and Blues was even easier to bore than Dou was.

"Good, he's finally asleep. We get to test his teleporting device tomorrow, so that should be interesting…don't tell Dr. Light or Dr. Wily about it yet, though, okay? He wants it to be PERFECT when he finally reveals it.

"No problem…hey, Dr. Light and Dr. Wily are finally going to build me a body! I've seen the schematics. I'll look human!" Dou was very happy for Blues. Toshiro had made similar plans as well, but was waiting for the teleportation module for his body to be finished first. Dou was in no real hurry, though.

"That's great! Mine might take a little longer, but Toshiro plans to make one for me, too!"

"Yeah, but I found something in Wily's files that worries me…" Dou listened up. Blues sounded serious…like when something really concerned him.

"What?"

"Well, Dr. Wily's files have a major flaw in them. It seems like it'd be extremely easy to hack into the prototype AI…the one he THINKS we are using, as well as the AI planned for use in future semi-sentient DRN models." Dou was worried now too…

"…You mean all the robots that have Wily code will be susceptible?"

"Yeah…I don't know if I should tell Dr. Light or not. If I do, he might not believe me, and Wily will find out about the problem and want to patch us. Once he scans us, Wily will know that we don't use his AI components." Dou thought for a moment.

"So we know, but we can't do anything about it, or else Wily might know that years of work were flushed down the tubes…Poor Wily…" The robots agreed not to say anything unless the issue came up.

The next morning, Dou was to go back to the lab. They had to hurry up and test the teleporter. After Toshiro got everything hooked up, he placed a chunk of metal into the teleporter, after scanning its surface with a computer.

"This is it, Dou…I'll teleport it only five feet, and we'll scan it after it reappears to see if it is exactly the same…" With that, he puts it on the pad and activates the teleporter. A streak of grey light could be seen shooting up off the pad, and it came back down five feet away, reassembling into the same mass of metal. Toshiro held his breath as the results appears on the screen.

"100 match." Dou cheered and before Toshiro could stop him, he'd reset the integration point, and teleported himself away. Immediately he got a message from Dou, saying he'd arrived at Dr. Light's lab safely, and Toshiro smiled, happy. What Dou didn't tell him was that he'd teleported in on Dr. Light, who had woken up early to work on Blues' body. Needless to say, Dr. Light was shocked to see a green beam of energy zoom down from the ceiling, and materialize into the green and blue Metool. Dr. Light looked at Dou, stunned.

"Hey, Doc! Uh…just a type of transportation that Toshiro is working on…pay no mind, okay? Please don't tell Wily, either. He doesn't want it leaked out yet or anything." Dou knew that if Toshiro found out that Dr. Light knew, he wouldn't get angry, that wasn't in his character, but he might get upset. That was even worse. Dr. Light smiled and nodded. He knew that good technology couldn't be rushed, but he noted the odd accomplishment in his mind as he led Dou to a room…where Blues stood. However, Blues wasn't in his Metool body.

Blues was now in a humanoid form, and appeared to be in his early teens. He wore a grey jumpsuit with red boots, gloves, and belt. Dr. Light had also just given him a yellow scarf as a gift, which Blues had accepted happily. He had it on already, and it looked cool. His hair was black with a red hue, and his eyes were a rusty reddish-brown. He smiled at the Metool, who was frozen, impressed.

"…Wow…Blues…that looks amazing!" Blues smiled and gave a thumbs up.

"Now I can do a LOT more. I can finally read stuff on the upper shelves in the library." Blues smiled, and Dou would smile back, if his mouth could move into that position. Dou hoped that his body would be completed soon as well. With the teleportation problem solved, he knew Toshiro would start quick, as soon as possible, especially once he knew Dr. Light had finished Blues' body. Little did he know that Toshiro was already hard at work, and had been for a while. Midway through the day, Toshiro came over, and it seemed that Dr. Light was expecting him, and then Dr. Light started showing him Blues' body. Blues was well aware that Toshiro was partially responsible for his existence, one of his three co-creators, but was expecting him to be…well…older. After a few hours of talking, Toshiro stood up and looked toward Dou, smiling.

"Well, we wouldn't want to leave Dou out, here, so I have a little surprise for him…" He pressed a button, and a blue and green body beamed in. The Body looked like that of a young teen, like Blues, with brown hair and green eyes. Dou smiled, knowing exactly what was going on, as this body looked just like he wanted his body to look like. After a few moments, and the reanimation of a stunned and gaping Dr. Light, Dou was transferred to the new body, and opened his new eyes for the first time.

"…I HAVE HANDS!" Dou exclaimed, happily going over his body's new capabilities. Needless to say, Dr. Wily was surprised when he came back, and found two humanoid robots instead of one, as well as an eight-year-old boy. Dr. Light and Dr. Wily were to follow their original plans, Dr. Light being in charge of 001 and 002, and Dr. Wily taking care of 003-008, still unaware that his code hadn't been used in Dou or Blues, and that Dr. Light had no plans to use it in 001 or 002.. Dou wanted kid siblings as well, but knew that Toshiro wasn't exactly a rich child, and the only reason he could get the parts he did was because his father owned a scrap yard which the government sometimes fed good titanium and plastics into. Of course, Dou found his body durable, and he even looked remarkably humanoid, even right down to his skin. It took all of two years of scavenging to find the perfect components for Dou's new body, and he knew it. That line of thought was interrupted when the doorbell rang. The doctors had been expecting a prominent Russian scientist, who was showing progress in building his own sentient robots, and his daughter. Dr. Cossack and Kalinka both came into the room, immediately being shown Blues and Dou. Kalinka seemed pretty surprised, though Dr. Cossack was well aware of the situation. Dr. Light had informed them of the fact that Dr. Wily wasn't really responsible for the AI after Dr. Cossack had trouble with adapting Wily's work, but a child like Kalinka was. The Cossacks decided that this boy was him, and this was confirmed when they spoke to Dr. Light after Wily left again. The nine-year-old Kalinka was becoming fairly skilled in her own right, Dr. Light discovered, when she introduced him to her robotic pet, a robot named Beat, built after she saw Eddie. Dou played with Beat for a while, while Blues watched, and Kalinka talked with Toshiro.

"So…Dr. Light tells us that you were responsible for part of the AI, as well as most of Dou's programming and his new body…is that true?" Kalinka looked at the boy, surprised that he was a year younger than she was.

"Yeah, I got the idea from seeing Eddie's debut…hey…were you there? I bumped into a girl wearing clothes like yours, but I was in a hurry. I THINK I apologized in Russian…I was in a bit of a hurry, so I'm not sure." Kalinka blinked, realizing that he was the one who had run into her two years before.

"Yep, that's me! I got the idea for beat from Eddie's debut, too. I don't have Mom anymore, so sometimes I get lonely when Dad is busy." Toshiro seemed sympathetic.

"Sorry to hear that. My mom is alive, but Dad divorced her when she was convicted of negligence a month ago. She left me stranded in Kyoto after we'd visited her relatives. No big loss, though. She just wanted me to earn money for her to spend anyway." Kalinka seemed shocked, like she'd never imagined a mother being capable of such a thing. She decided it was her stereotype of a mother, and left it at that. She decided to brighten up the conversation.

"Well, I guess we have some things in common then…it's odd that no other Light Syndrome people have been born since us…maybe it only happens a couple times a generation or something…" After Kalinka spoke, Toshiro thought for a moment.

"Yeah, well, part of it is detection. If it isn't detected, the baby usually can't survive childbirth. I heard that your dad, Dr. Light, and Dr. Wily were born by C-section for other reasons and lived because of that." Toshiro and Kalinka talked for a while, about the mechanics of their respective creations, programming, and other things, until it was time to go. Everyone said their goodbyes, and was shocked when Dou happily jumped over to his creator, touched his shoulder, and they vanished in two beams of light.

"Teleportation…" Kalinka breathed. She held Dou's old Metool body, the last event cementing that day in her head for the rest of her life.


	5. The Runaway

**Answers to Reviews**

**To The Wallflower: You are right, I do need to include more day-to-day things, and I actually planned to do so after the creation of Rock and Roll and the First Wily War. Maybe I should try it a little before that though. I do have enough characters… Also, more implications of the Light Syndrome will appear, especially once the Wily Wars place more strain on the children.**

**To Rose Kitsune.EXE: Thank you for your compliment, and to answer your question, Blues will remain a core part of the story, all the way through until his reappearance in the third Wily War. Even after that his importance will remain, though now the Lights and Cossacks will be more aware of it. He may have a small vacation until the Teleporter Mk-II is completed, and he is able to teleport across the world freely without routing through Tokyo…and risking recapture.**

MegaMan Generation, Chapter 5: The Runaway

Blues and Dou had been in their new bodies for ten months. These ten months were spent bonding with their respective creators, while Dr. Wily continued to work on his Robot Masters concept, not caring as much about such things. To help himself with his transition into complete sentience, Blues upgraded himself with various programs, one of which would have an unforeseen effect…

Blues came out of his charge cycle with a start. His optical sensors adjusted to the dark, focusing to reveal that he was still in his room. His internal chronometer told him that it was two in the morning, and that his recharge cycle was completed. Dr. Light was unaware that he'd been updating his own systems and programming, allowing him to recharge much faster than before, in four hours rather than the standard eight. He turned on his night vision, another upgrade, and the room brightened. He felt odd though…odd enough to check his internal systems. What he discovered disturbed him.

During the night, his programming optimizer, a program made to help his programming grow to a more efficient level, had decided that he had reached a level of awareness and experience where the pre-fabricated laws of robotics could contain his development. He found that though the laws were still there, they were now only suggestions. He was no longer programmed to follow the laws of Asimov unless he wished to. Like a human, his programming was fully governed by experience and his own wishes. At first he was happy, but he then realized that Dr. Light and Dr. Wily would likely try to reprogram him to his original state, and now that he had complete free will, he could not return to his previous state. Not after he finally knew why humans were so adamant about keeping their ability to make their own choices in life. After that realization, Blues' computerized brain made his decision in less than ten nanoseconds. Run away.

Blues snuck down to the lab and copied all the files that he could just incase he needed them, and then went into the construction area. In the pods were eight robots, DRN 001-008. Blues said goodbye to all of them, though he knew they weren't aware of his presence. After that, he activated the teleportation system he'd obtained in secret from Dou for emergencies. He vanished in a flash of light; too late realizing that Dr. Light had followed him.

"He had Toshiro's teleportation module! He must have gotten it from Dou…" Dr. Light stood there, stunned.

Blues appeared in the new teleportation chamber in Toshiro's basement. He knew this was where he'd end up. It couldn't be helped, since the routing satellites that regulated the teleportation signals weren't up yet. It wasn't easy for a child to get enough resources to put something into orbit. Because of this, Toshiro was still relying on an upgraded first-generation teleporter, rather than the second generation one he had finished designing. The location was, thus, still fixed on one end, a disadvantage in the Mk-I which the Mk-II was intended to do away with. Blues had hoped that Toshiro was asleep, and that Dou was in sleep mode, but they were working late, extending the range of the Mk-I teleporter to a global unit in preparation for the Mk-II tests, and were shocked when Blues had beamed in.

"Blues! Why did you teleport here? What happened?" Toshiro was immediately in emergency mode, since Blues wasn't supposed to leave his home without at least one of the scientists with him. Blues grimaced, and then realized that he had no choice but to tell the story. He hoped Toshiro and Dou would understand, and was surprised when Toshiro smiled brightly.

"That's great! You finally got enough experience to transcend the boundaries of programmed response into the realm of free will! I can understand why you left though…Dr. Wily won't be happy…and though Dr. Light wanted a robot with full awareness, he would think it is too soon for society to have a robot which can act on it's own…don't worry though. You can stay here if you have to, okay?" Blues didn't expect this, but knew that he was lucky. He didn't plan to stay all the time, but it'd be nice to have a "safe house", so to speak.

"I won't stay all the time…but I guess I can drop by every now and then to visit…" Toshiro smiled, and then the look on his face indicated that he'd realized something. He hurriedly went to the teleporter and accessed it, deleting the teleporter usage record of Blues' access. He then opened up the teleporter, disassembled key components, and laid tools and devices out strategically. Blues and Dou both recognized what he was doing. Since one end of the first generation teleportation system was always fixed, Dr. Light would know to come here. If Toshiro could make him believe he was working on the records system at the time it was used, then Dr. Light wouldn't be able to access the records, and wouldn't be able to tell if Blues had ever come, or where he may have cone if he'd routed to another location.

"Blues, Dr. Light only lives about fifteen minutes away, even less by car. He knows you'll have to have come through here, so this will likely be the first place he comes to. You need to either hide or to go to the teleporter again and teleport somewhere else. You can come back when the heat's off, okay?" Blues nodded, understanding, and soon beamed away again, in a flash of light. In much less than the aforementioned fifteen minutes, there was a knock at the door. Dr. Light came rushing in, panicked, and Toshiro tried his best to calm him down. Toshiro realized he must have had the pedal to the floor almost the entire time.

"Toshiro…it's Blues! He teleported away! He has to have been here! Where is he?" Dr. Light was hoping that Blues was still here.

"I'm sorry Dr. Light…but he re-routed. Right after he teleported here, he teleported somewhere else. And since I was working on the teleportation system to upgrade it to a global system, I have no record of where he went…" Dr. Light was saddened, but understood. After all, with Toshiro's satellite teleporter idea, Dr. Light knew that extensive upgrades were being done with the teleporter to ensure full compatibility. Toshiro didn't like tricking Dr. Light, but he felt that he had little choice. Once free will is given, no one has the right to take it away.

"I see…I overheard him talking to his siblings, saying goodbye. It seems his system has upgraded itself to have complete free will…Asimov's laws are no longer mandatory for him…I just hope I've raised him well enough to know right from wrong…good from evil…" Toshiro tried to comfort Dr. Light.

"You did. He probably ran away because he knew that his free will had to be protected. Once he realized what it meant, and determined that no one else had the right to take it away, he left to defend it. Though you'd likely accept his freedom, Wily most certainly would want to reprogram him. He made the most human choice." Dr. Light nodded and stood up.

"Sorry to bother you so late. Good Night, Toshiro. Dou." Dr. Light walked off, more determined from this to finish DRN 001 and DRN 002, or as he'd named them, Rock and Roll. After all, if Blues could attain free will, maybe they could as well…he could finally have the children he always wanted. He knew Toshiro had tampered with the teleporter after Blues appeared, and was protecting his free will, for which Dr. Light was thankful. The biggest clue was the placement of the tools and the apparent rush with which that particular panel was taken apart, compared to the others, which were orderly. Now Blues could live how he wanted, and Dr. Wily might not force Dr. Light to look for him and reprogram him. This act may have been a lie, but it still cemented Dr. Light's trust of Toshiro, since he proved that he had valued and cared for the robot's life and rights as a sentient being.

Blues beamed into a completely new world to him. There were no buildings, no people, simply a jungle and its inhabitants. After looking at the constellations, as his internal GPS system had been deactivated to be untraceable; he determined that he was on the African continent. He had read about the jungle in the library at Dr. Light's home, but never expected to see it with his own optics. Soon, a tiger came close to him, attracted by the odd smell of charged air particles from the teleportation, and attacked him in a flash. Blues, detecting the animal, whipped around, lifted the animal as it charged, and body slammed it back to the ground with a display of speed and force that ended with the tiger running away. With displays of such physical power, Blues had nothing to fear. He wasn't exactly edible anyway. He smiled to himself and explored the jungle, deciding that it would be his home for a little while, at least until the teleporter was upgraded into the Mk-II design. Then, to teleport, he wouldn't need to be routed through to Toshiro's home in Tokyo, where he could be discovered. Any location in the world could be brought to him with a single thought and a flash of red and grey light.


End file.
